CROSS COUNTRY: Sherman Indian’s Thompson set for state

Sherman Indian cross country standout Isaiah Thompson, poses in front of the iconic water tower at the school on Tuesday, November 20, 2012. He'll race in the state championship this weekend. Formerly focused on basketball, he's turned his attention to running -- and it's paid off.

RIVERSIDE â" He might not look it, slender and soft-spoken as he is, but Isaiah Thompson is a tough guy.

A disciplined, determined strong man.

The Riverside Sherman Indian seniorâs impressive internal fortitude was on display last week, when he dug deep and rallied for a one-second victory in the CIF-SS Division 5 cross country championship race.

Coming from 30 yards back and taking his only lead at the finish, his was an historic kick.

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The Braves hadnât produced an individual CIF champion since Kenneth Comyestewa ran to victory in 1936.

And Thompsonâs time -- 14 minutes, 40 seconds â" was a division record on the 2.91-mile Mt. San Antonio College rain course.

âHe really didnât have the lead through the race at all â" until the very end,â dad Marcus Thompson said. âWhat that shows is you donât give up. If you keep working hard, if you stay with it, look what happens. And not only did he win, he broke the course record.â

Thompson, 17, was the Inland areaâs sole individual winner last Saturday, but heâll be joined by four area boys teams and three area girls teams that also qualified for Saturdayâs CIF State Championship at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Thompson made the trip to state last year too, even though he still considered himself a basketball player, and even though heâd never put in any actual off-season cross country training.

He finished 21st. And then, in the spring, he finished third in the 800 meters at the CIF-SS Division IV championship.

A new idea was afoot.

âI came to my senses and saw that the sport can do some big things for me in my life,â said Isaiah Thompson, whose mother, Louise Tompkins, is of the Kumeyaay tribe.

He followed Sherman Indian cross country coach Tom Colleyâs training instructions this summer, running about 400 miles in all and about eight per day.

And the student with the 4.0 grade-point average and the budding interests in kinesiology, engineering and psychology has received recruiting interested from Texas Christian, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and the University of Redlands.

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